syncopated
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Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of syncopated
1655–65; < Late Latin syncopāt ( us ) ( see syncopate) + -ed 2
Explanation
In music, rhythms or beats that are unexpected or sound "off" in an interesting way are syncopated. Typically, a syncopated beat puts the stress where it wouldn't usually be. When your ear is expecting a weak beat and instead hears a strong or stressed one, it's syncopated. This adjective can also describe rhythms that are uneven or that disturb the flow of music and take it in a different direction. As a verb, syncopate means to make music with this kind of rhythm and also to "shorten words by omitting syllables," from the Greek root synkope, "contraction of a word."
Vocabulary lists containing syncopated
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And the clattering syncopated loop that repeats through “Oblivion” is there mostly as a contrast to the wispy and diaphanous vocals, which are so thin and leavened with reverb that they threaten to float away.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025
Eva Slater’s 1954 “Galaxy” insets a syncopated network of painted forms within a wooden panel, merging optical motion with material stasis.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 29, 2024
Each one’s momentary glow pulses alive and fades in syncopated rhythm with the drowsy croaks of bullfrogs.
From Salon • May 10, 2024
Much of the fighting’s rhythm seems syncopated to that of another century: trenches dug into unrelenting mud, the slide of flip-flops down monsoon-soaked hills, the clatter of homemade AK-style assault rifles in dusty towns.
From New York Times • Apr. 20, 2024
The Dancing Fan was still dancing, its rubber feet beating out the same syncopated Persian rhythm I’d been listening to all night, but that wasn’t what woke me.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
